Tuesday, 17 July 2012

One Month Alternative

Since I was kicked out from Fortress Olympiatoppen (OLT) for one month (I was not picked for the Olympics, don't ask my why) I did need to find an alternative muscle factory. However it was not easy finding a place that could even come close to OLT.

Student Idretten (Domus Athlectica)
First I tried out my old gym, Domus Athletica, with Mr L. I had not been there since 2007, but nothing much had changed. It was only more worn down than before, and the showers were filthy. The place was crowded and the weights were few. I quickly remembered why I stopped training at that place. Another major problem was that there were nowhere do do muscle-ups. A gym without a proper iron bar for hang-ups and muscle-ups is no proper gym. They do provide belt with chain, but nowhere for doing proper chins or pull-ups either, as they are using some crappy old TechnoGym plastic coated bars. Most (or all?) of the machines at this gym are from TechnoGym, which I personally find horrible.

The positive things is that they did offer a summer deal where you could train for one month and pay no more than 300kr. It's also possible to park in close proximity if you do need to drive there. If you do swim there is a pool there as well, and using it is included in the price. However the latter facility will not be used by me. They also have one area for doing some core exercise.

Fresh Fitness
Dropped by their Ensjø section. Not bad. New inotec machines and generally nice and clean studio. Nowhere to do proper chins or muscle-ups though, saw no belts or belts with chains either. An area for core exercise, however just one sling for doing sling exercise. Since this being next door to where I live at the moment I do not need parking either. However there are parks available in the surrounding area. They offer parking as well, for a fee.

evo
Another alternative is Evo. However I was unable to get a trial session there, as the place is unmanned all day long. Mr B is exercising here, and seems very satisfied. However it's another place where doing muscle-ups is an impossibility.

Of course, there are other gyms as well. However as far as I know you'll have to sign up for six or 12 months at the other places. Hence that is not an alternative for me. Right now we have 17th of July, and I still haven't found any place to work out that I like. Maybe I'll just skip gym work for now. I can do much core exercise on my own. It's not at all good for my muscle-up project though. There should be a bar somewhere in the Oslo area where doing that exercise is possible. I just haven't found it yet.